WASHINGTON
The U.S. will keep 9,800 troops In Afghanistan through 2015, after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani requested flexibility in the draw down, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
"President Ghani has requested some flexibility on our drawdown timelines. I've consulted with Gen. (John) Campbell in Afghanistan. My national security team, and I've decided that we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of this year," Obama said during a joint news conference with the Afghan president who is making his first U.S. visit since being elected last year.
Obama planned to reduce U.S. troops to 5,000 by the end of 2015 but granted Ghani’s request.
"This flexibility reflects our reinvigorated partnership with Afghanistan, which is aimed at making Afghanistan secure and preventing it from being used to launch terrorist attacks,” according to Obama.
The timeline has not changed to reduce U.S. personnel to an embassy center presence, Obama said, and that still remains as the end of 2016, after which, only a small force will stay to protect the U.S. embassy.
American troops will continue to play a non-combat role in Afghanistan and Afghan forces still have full responsibility for the security of their country, he said.
"We want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help Afghan security forces succeed, so we don't have to go back," he added.
Ghani said the security situation in Afghanistan warrants the request to keep U.S. troops in the country.
"There's much work that lies ahead of us, and the flexibility that has been provided will be used to maximum effect, to exhilarate reforms, to ensure that our security forces honor human rights, that they internalize the practices that binds an army, a police force, a secret service, to the people," Ghani said.
